Have you been waiting for your chance to buy a flying car? It’s here!
Back in the 1980’s a company called Flight Innovations started work on a vehicle called the Sky Commuter. It was founded by some ex-Boeing engineers who wanted to develop a two-passenger car with the ability to take off vertically and fly.
The result was a small three-wheeler with a bubble canopy, tail fin, winglets up front, and three horizontally-installed propellers driven by a turbine that provided lift as well as thrust, courtesy of a series of air ducts.
Imagine being stuck in traffic and just popping up off the road and zooming to your destination. The future is now!
Or, maybe it’s still a couple of years away.
Only three prototypes were built, and while Flight Innovations claimed to have performed successful tethered flight tests, no photographic or video evidence of any of them exist. After blowing through a reported $6 million, the company folded, as have so many flying car outfits over the years.
But the dream lives on in the form of the last remaining prototype, which was built in 1990 and is crossing the block at the upcoming Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale.
It’s being offered at no reserve and with no estimated price, but it last sold publically on Ebay in 2008 for over $130,000. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with a motor, so not only can’t you fly it home, but you’ll have to push.